


Tale one-shot collection

by ShrineMaidenOfRan



Category: VenturianTale Characters (Web Series)
Genre: I'll add more characters to the list as I go, Other, look at chapter summaries for tags like hurt/comfort or whatever, oneshot pile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-05 06:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14611188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShrineMaidenOfRan/pseuds/ShrineMaidenOfRan
Summary: a collection of one-shots I write for Skyrimtale, Fallouttale, and Obliviontale+all the successors in that line.





	1. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vahl is restless due to being cooped up in a castle all the time and decides to run away for a bit

The high queen of Skyrim.  A very prestigious and powerful title.  No financial troubles, ending a civil war, the boons this postition grants are endless.  And Vahl  _ hated it _ .  It seems like she was only ever in big stone rooms talking to rich old human dudes about taxes, never even getting to leave the castle without having several people running after her to rope her back into her prison of prunes and stone.  Which is exactly why she needs to escape early, when nobody else is awake.

The pitch black sky started to lighten slightly, and Vahl shot out of bed.  She peeled off her overly expensive night clothes and got out her old adventuring gear, getting it on as quickly as possible.  She always kept it in the best condition possible so she could just up and leave without the knowledge of anybody else. She pried open the window in her bedroom wall, grabbing the sill as she lowered herself down and then tossing herself from the wall, landing on a defensive wall of the castle below.  She ran along the top of that wall, somehow managing to not run into any patrols along it, and hopped off it when it no longer led in the direction she wanted to go, landing in a somersault that emphasized the cool night air as it flooded her lungs upon landing on the ground. She turned the somersault into a sprint effortlessly as she ran into the wild dawn, feeling her wolf’s spirit howling in delight as the wind ruffled her braided hair.

Soon enough she was practically right on top of the mountain, able to make out crevices and footholds in the darkness as she kept up her momentum.  Quickly, she formulated her plan, and leapt up almost into the stone, her ashen skin matching the color of the stone, only differentiating in that Vahl’s skin was much smoother and a much more natural thing to be drenched in sweat.  She launched herself up a few times, wedging her hands into cracks in the stone or digging the toes of her boots into divots too small to use as a foothold by any novice freeclimber. But Vahl was anything but a novice when it came to scaling mountains.

Going upwards instead of forwards made Vahl lose a lot of her momentum, and she had to stop for a breather.  She hung from the cliff face and turned her head around as much as she could to admire how far she had already gotten.  It had been so long since she was able to be the wild child she was meant to be that even such a minor accomplishment as this made her feel alive again.

She finished her break and hauled herself up over the cliff onto the flat land above it, laying down in the dirt to recover her breath before getting up and walking to the other side of the mountain, sitting on that cliff and dangling her feet off, watching the sun flood the land with it’s aetherial glow.


	2. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hurt/comfort. Asyari chapter. Asylum has a nightmare

“Shh, I’m here, it’s okay.”  Sari softly pat her boyfriend’s hair as he laid there, crying in his sleep.  His nightmares were getting worse by the week, and harder for him to wake up from each time.  Though he told her much more about him than he ever did anyone else, that was still not much information she had.  He never tells her what he does when he leaves the house for days at a time without her, never told her what gods dream about, so many unanswered questions.  Most people would be upset about this, and she would be lying if she said it didn’t irk her on occasion, but the ever present sense of mystery he has about him was one of the things that made her fall for him.  That being said, him laying there, crying and occasionally screaming in his sleep, it made her wish he told her what was torturing him so much.

The storm outside the Anvil Manor churned and spat water up against the windows, splitting the sky with thunder and making the sea a rolling chaos, which only added to the uneasy atmosphere as the lovebirds lay in their bed.  Thunder cracked and Asylum jumped awake, startling Sari. Asylum looked around frantically for a moment, not seeming to notice the love of his life as she sat outside his periffery.

“Babe…”  Sari said softly, and Asylum’s head whipped to look at her immediately, attracted to the warm yellow glow of her eyes.  His eyes immediately welled up again and he threw himself against her, hugging her as tight as he could and sobbing into the crook of her neck.  Time ticked by and Asylum eventually ran out of tears to shed, instead he just sat there, shaking in Sari’s embrace. Eventually, Asylum spoke, voice but a whisper but Sari heard every word.

“You were gone, Sari.  You, the twins, Jerry, Kajsa, everyone.  Fate took you guys, said I’ve done too much bad in my life.  That I don’t deserve anything good in my life. I don’t want you to leave, Sari.  Stay with me forever, please?” Sari was startled by this sudden telling of emotion, show of insecurities.  Sari thought back to the time where he dropped off the face of nirn, not having been seen for fifty years, how lonely he must have been.  Sari looked down for a moment, then back up, meeting Asylum’s bloodshot and fearful eyes with the most sincerity she could ever muster in her lifetime.

“Yes, forever and ever.”


	3. Planetary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cybomb fluff. Stargazing.

Stargazing, one of the few nice things left to do.  Timebomb laid on the flat tin roof with Cywren, looking up at the stars and listening to her talk about the stories behind constellations and all of the galaxies people can see from earth.  Not only did he love hearing Cywren talk, with all of that adorable enthusiasm she gets when she talks about nerdy stuff, but he also loved hearing the stories about why people find certain constellations in the sky; Orion and his dogs, the bull, the dragon, it was all so cool that people used to come up with these stories just to share them with other people, like what Cywren is doing now.

A cold breeze blew over them, causing them both to shiver.  Timebomb sat up and unzipped his jacket, taking it off and scooting closer to Cywren.  He laid down again right next to her and put the jacket over both of them.

“Ooohh what a gentleman~”  Cywren teased, making Timebomb blush a little.  They laid there comfortably for a while, cuddling to keep warm but not wanting to go back indoors just yet.  After a while, Timebomb noticed that there was one star Cywren hadn’t mentioned yet, so he dug one of his arms out from under his jacket and pointed to it.

“Hey that star doesn’t have a name, right?  I’m going to name that one after you.” Cywren moved her head to see what exactly in the sky Timebomb was pointing to, as is the problem when someone asks questions about specific space bodies while stargazing, and then she giggled a little bit.  “What?” Timebomb got a little defensive, realizing he must have made a mistake of some kind in his attempt to be romantic.

“That’s actually a planet!  Jupiter, to be specific, named after the chief Roman god of thunder.  Most people have a hard time telling stars far away and planets relatively close to us apart, because they both glow, but stars have their own luminescence, and the little twinkle they have is from the light it produces having trouble getting here, whereas the planets have a more constant, if overall dimmer, effect because they’re just reflecting the light of our sun, like the moon does!”  Even in the dim light, Timebomb saw the sparkle in her eye as she explained to him his mistake, and suddenly didn’t feel too bad about messing up.

“Well I guess we just have to elevate you to god-status so I can rename that for you, then.”  He recovered quickly.

“Stooooppp you’re making me blush.”  Cywren hid her face under the jacket, eyes just barely peeking out over the hem.

“Well you deserve it!  Cywren, the goddess of knowledge, curiosity, and hope.  Doesn’t that sound cool?” Timebomb was surprised when she suddenly kissed her on the cheek.

“Well if you like it, it’s perfect.”


	4. After a long adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asyari fluff. Asylum and Sari try to relax after a long adventure outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof the formatting is weird again, sorry about that folks I can't fix how it copy-pastes to this site

It had been a long week of plundering Aelyid ruins for Asylum and Sari, and as soon as they got home, both of them just wanted to deflate.  Sari slammed open the door and tossed her bag on the table in the foyer, and threw herself on the couch in front of the fire, putting a hand behind her head while letting the other dangle off onto the floor.  Asylum closed the door and didn’t bother taking off his pack as he beelined right for the couch, flopping on it face-first. Right on top of Sari. There was a silence, as it took a while for them both to realize what Asylum had done in his weariness.

“Asylum?”

“Yeah?”

“Please get off of me.”

“...no.”

“Why not?”

“I’m tired.”   
“I’m tired as well, Asylum.”   
“Yeah well I’m tired-er.”  Sari giggled at Asylum’s improper grammar.

“You are such a child.”   
“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Okay.  I’m going to fling you across this room if you don’t get up.”   
“You won’t.”  Sari paused for a second at Asylum calling her bluff.

“Perhaps so.  I would still very much like for you to move, though.”

“Eh, that’s not going to happen.”

“Oho?  And why is that?”

“Because I said so.”

“Oooh because you  _ said so _ , got it.  And I’m sure you want me to just slip out under you huh?”

“I never considered that a possibility but if you want to try be my guest.”  Asylum waved one of his hands halfheartedly to show how open he was to the concept.

Sari could think of no good response to Asylum’s challenge, so she stayed quiet as she took longer than three seconds to think of one.  Fortunately or not, all it took was about ten seconds of not being engaged in conversation for Asylum to fall asleep on top of her, Sari noticed how his breathing slowed and his muscles relaxed.  Sari looked around for any possible escape. Seeing none, she resigned to her fate of being trapped under a sleeping adventurer. Maybe she could close her eyes for just a quick moment…

The twins, having been doing their own errands that day, opened the front door to see the two sleeping peacefully stacked on top of each other, Sari’s arm wrapping around Asylum’s torso.  Mimi whispered to her twin.

“Shhh, they’re being heterosexual, we mustn’t disturb them.”  And with those words of caution, they both snuck quietly upstairs, giggling about what they had seen once out of earshot.


	5. Veronica's Dating Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cywren and Veronica take a break from the outside heat and discuss some things. Cybomb mentioned. Lesbians give the best dating advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long, I've been writing other things ghbjnkml

Two women took shelter in a abandoned shack, escaping the sun rising high in the sky over the desert wasteland.  Veronica removed her hood so she could see better in the dim shelter, then sat down as her friend Cywren started rummaging through drawers and cabinets, looking for anything they could use.

“So what’s with that Timebomb kid huh?”  Veronica inquired, opening a bottle of soda she found with the tip of a blade she found.

“What about him?”  Cywren’s voice was muffled behind the bandana she wore over her mouth and nose, it was a windy day outside of the ramshackle shed they hid in.

“What’s his deal?”

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Guy McDude crossed the continent to find you.  He led all of your friends across the country so you wouldn’t be alone anymore.  That’s pretty special.” She took a swig of her soda, not taking her eyes away from Cywren as she gave up and sat down near her.

“Only a guy like that would be crazy enough to find someone like me again.”  Cywren pulled her bandana down and took her glasses off her face, wiping them as clean as she could with her dusty kerchief.

“Did you run?”  Veronica was only innocently curious, but Cywren’s silence to her question made her think that there was something she was hiding.

“...no.  I just made a stupid mistake is all.”  Cywren turned away from Veronica and continued cleaning her glasses with a barely noticeable increase in intensity.

“Come on,  _ you _ ,  _ stupid? _  No chance in Hell.”  Cywren laughed dryly at her friend’s attempt at supporting her.

“Thanks but that, that was one of the stupidest mistakes I ever made.  Letting my guard down.” Cywren put her glasses back on her face but still didn’t look at Veronica.

“You can’t just leave me hanging with a little tidbit of information like that!”  Veronica encouraged her friend, but was met with only silence. “Come on Cy, you’re only making me more curious.”  Cywren sighed at her friend’s insistence to know her story.

“After I got clean water to the Capital Wasteland I took up some courier jobs to keep the caps coming in because, well, all of my other friends couldn’t really do much on their own to help me.  One’s a supermutant so he really couldn’t just walk around by himself in any sort of city no less get a job, one’s with the Brotherhood and had her duties there, one’s a dog which is self explanatory, and then there’s Timebomb who is...not the brightest person I’ll be honest,” Cywren smiled a little bit mentioning that, “but committed to helping me in any way he can for some crazy reason.”  Her face sobered again before she continued. “He was travelling with me while I was delivering the chip, everyone else stayed at home because big travelling parties aren’t very sustainable. I...let my guard down and fell asleep while on watch and next thing I knew I was in New Vegas and that  _ bastard _ stole the package and..well, you know.”  She didn’t have to mention the last bit of her story, as the indent in the middle of her brow ridge and the scar running up her forehead was telling enough of what happened then.  “I woke up in the middle of the Mojave with barely anything to my name and he wasn’t anywhere to be found.”

“Oh...well shit, Cy, sorry I made you tell me this.”  Veronica looked down at the ground, feeling extremely guilty at having Cy revisit horrible memories.  Cywren only let out a weary sigh.

“It’s alright.  It’s not like I can run from the fact that it happened.”  The two fell into a silence for awhile, dust and sand dancing through the beams of sun that pierced the pitiful excuse for a building.

“So...are you two like, A Thing?”  Veronica asked, curiosity no longer able to be held back.

“...what?”  Cywren was very taken aback, not only by the sudden nature of the question but also it’s vague contents.

“You know, boyfriend/girlfriend, partners, romance, that sort of thing.”  Veronica waved her hand, bottle in it, as she spoke

“If you’re asking if we’re official, I...honestly don’t remember him ever asking me to be his girlfriend.  Though that might be on me because...you know.” She pointed at her head, referring to the many cranial injuries she’s had in the past.

“Funny, when I asked him that he said almost the exact same thing.  Gendered words switched of course.” Veronica mumbled her next sentence so she thought Cywren didn’t hear her, “man, you two are really kindred souls, meant for each other in every way.”

“You asked him about this?”  Cywren would put more effort into sounding upset but the ambient heat sapped all of her energy, which was part of the point of taking this rest.

“Well, yeah, I didn’t get much out of him though, tends to be pretty quiet I guess.”

“Yeah he doesn’t tend to talk much to new people…”  Cywren conceded that point.

“I guess this means you guys aren’t a thing yet then, huh.”

“What do you mean, ‘yet’?”  Cywren squinted.

“Well if you two don’t figure out how to be a couple I might just force your guys’ hands, is all.”  Veronica got a troublemaking smirk on her face.   
“Why are you so concerned about this?”

“If I couldn’t get my happy ending you better be damn sure I’ll make sure my friend gets one.”  Veronica said, completely serious, as if this was a life-saving mission. Cywren knew exactly what she was referring to in that she didn’t get her happy ending, and she cursed the west coast Brotherhood still for it, so she relented.

“If you insist.”  She sighed. Veronica sat up straight and clapped.  Well, not straight, but you know.

“Great!  Now, from what I was able to gather about Timebomb he’s pretty soft spoken, so you’re going to have to ask the question.  Now, the scene around is everything-”


	6. M.I.A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asyari angst, enderal arc from Sari's POV

    His realm was left abandoned for decades now, so he couldn't there.  Asylum was still here, stuck somewhere on Nirn, unable to get home, unable to contact her.  Unless he just doesn't want to respond, the anxious and vicious part of her brain reminded her, but she knows for a fact that a person like Asylum doesn't just disappear into thin air like this, no, he's too dramatic for silence.  He must have been taken by someone, something, there was no way he would just abandon her and all of his friends.   
  
Would he?   
  
No.  He wouldn't.  Something must be wrong, something must be very very wrong, for her not to hear from him in so long, not even a story of some event that happened in foreign lands told by the locals that sounds like something he would do.  And she knows they would talk, everyone loves to know about the Hero of Kvatch's latest escapade, much to his chagrin. He loves the spotlight more than most people, but even he can't stand constant attention from the public.  Even he sometimes prefers just reading by the fireplace late at night, asking her for help with some of the more obscure words, as if she would know them.

 

    Unless he was lying to her the whole time.  But he was horrible at every social interaction he put effort towards, no less lying.  Unless that was all a ruse but, if it was, what did he gain from it? He didn’t take hardly any of his riches, the steward at New Sheoth Palace says he hasn’t been using any of his magics, he isn't using either of his houses or his ships, though not using a ship with a questionable relationship with reality is definitely the smart thing to do.

    The Anvil manor felt...emptier without him.  Lonelier, even though there were three other people and a troll still living there with her.  Something about his presence was grounding to her, made her feel purposeful like the first time she ever laid eyes on him back in Chorrol.  And now that he was gone everything felt...off. Almost unreal. The vase of flowers on the table hasn't been knocked down accidentally in months now, she almost felt like slapping it off the counter herself to restore some sort of normalcy.

    Kajsa slowly lumbered up next to her seat on the balcony, overlooking the entire city aglow with lit lanterns and obscured by fire smoke, like a pair of golden eyes staring at her in concern through the haze of the Badlands of Oblivion, making sure she was okay.  Kajsa let out a sad whine and sat down next to Sari, laying his head on her lap, which she started petting slowly.

    “I know baby, I miss him too.”


End file.
